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Developing creativity in the Singapore primary mathematics classroom:
Factors that support and inhibit
Foong Pui Yee
The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) put . Singapore on the world map when the achievement of its pupils in mathematics exceeded that of competitors from more than 40 countries. The mathematics curriculum in Singapore schools can be said to be traditional, with strong emphasis on content that has well-defined inner structures. To challenge pupils' analytical skills, numerous complex multiple-step problems are normally given. Pupils are trained to classify problems into types and tackle them according to some specific methods. These aspects of mathematical learning in developing basic concepts, skills, and problem solving have been very successful in the Singapore curriculum. The TIMSS mathematics achievement data released in 1996 and 1997 ranked the performance of Singapore pupils at ages 13 and 9, respectively, in the top place. The fact that the TIMSS items largely matched what we were teaching in Singapore schools was, of course, an advantage.
As to the teaching methods in our mathematics classrooms, the prevalent practices are whole-class teaching, textbooks, and regular testing (Chang, Kaur, Koay, & Lee, 2001). Pupils do a lot of practice sums, mostly of the one-method and one-answer kind, to consolidate and reinforce the mathematics concepts or procedures taught by the teacher through an expository method. A growing concern within mathematics education is that teaching methods that focus on standard textbook questions and solving problems through drilling encourage only the development of procedural knowledge. Desirable learning outcomes such as meaningful conceptual understanding and critical and creative thinking in problem solving, as well as giving students' ownership in their learning, cannot be brought about through such product-oriented methods. Supporters of process-based curriculum are now arguing for creativity in the mathematics classrooms through more open-ended, practical, and investigative tasks to supplement textbook questions upon which teachers have depended. Students can benefit in many ways while working on open-ended tasks, which would require them to make their own decisions and plan strategies as well as apply their mathematical knowledge. In this article I will share the experiences of three primary teachers who tried open-ended questions with their pupils, and I will elicit from these experiences the classroom-based factors that could support or inhibit creativity in the pupils' work.
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Developing creativity in the Singapore primary mathematics classroom